Germantown: Urban Cafe Manager Pat O'Donnell Serves Food with a Side of Humor

John Patrick O’Donnell, otherwise known as ‘Chef Pat,’ has been a chef in the Philadelphia area for over 25 years. Luckily for Germantown, O’Donnell has spent the last five of those years managing the Urban Cafe at 5815 Wayne Ave. Much like the that establishment, there’s an entertaining story behind O’Donnell.

O’Donnell says he first got the idea of being a chef from watching an episode of Three’s Company when he was just finishing high school. “I saw Jack Tripper making pasta from flour on Three’s Company and I was like ‘that’s kind of cool, I could do that [for a living.]’”

From there, O’Donnell pursued his desire to making a living as a chef through an apprenticeship in a supermarket making $4 an hour, from which he was fired for getting a second job, from which he was also fired for deciding to pursue a degree in restaurant management. “They told me it was a full-time commitment, and that I should just go to school and get an education.”
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O’Donnell proceeded to take his lumps while working his way up, but says the dirty jobs paid off when he learned valuable skills like how to work fast and store fish. O’Donnell knew he had arrived when he became chef at the River Deck in Manayunk, a position that left O’Donnell with plenty of pocket cash.

“I made lots of money-- driving real nice cars, living in real nice places.” O’ Donnell recalls. However, it was not a permanent lifestyle, and O’Donnell began to grow new ambitions. “About five years ago I started to hear my Dad’s words coming out of my mouth to other people,” he jokes.

Around that time, O’Donnell was approached by an associate who had an idea to open up
an upscale cafe where a minimal amount of food was served. However, there were a number of issues in the way.

“I came in and looked at it… and the place looked like a dump… there was pretty much just the stove,” O’Donnell says, adding that he didn’t think his associate had a good business plan. “He didn’t know what he was doing. I said to him ‘why would you want to sell something for six bucks when you’ve got customers who would buy something that’s $15.”

That, and O’Donnell wasn’t used to not being in charge. “I wasn’t used to not being the boss, I’ve been the boss for twenty years… I said, ‘this is what I think will work, a tiny little BYOB that emphasizes a coffee house menu.’”

Thus, the idea behind the Urban Cafe was created, and five years later the business is still going strong, although O’Donnell admits the economy has taken its toll. “One day it’s like ‘we’re having a great day today, everyone’s here,’ and then the next days it’s like ‘OK… there’s nobody in the restaurant.’ In a recession, what do you do? You start saving your money. Where don’t you go? Out to eat.”

By Jessica Lynn Argondizza, Kyle Bagenstose, and Darla Synnestvedt
Group 11, Germantown